The Daily Startup: Second Genome Raises $42.6 Million to Pursue Microbiome-Based Therapies

Second Genome Inc. has attracted the venture arms of two drug companies to a $42.6 million financing that will enable it to develop disease treatments based on research into the population of microbes that live in and on the body. The more than 100 trillion microorganisms living in and on the body, the microbiome, influence disease and health, research indicates. For Second Genome, the interest that the venture arms of Pfizer and Roche showed in its financing validates two premises on which the company is based. One is that the microbiome is involved in multiple diseases. The other is that Second Genome’s particular approach to microbiome-based therapy is one that should appeal to drug manufacturers, according to Chief Executive Peter DiLaura. Instead of using microbes as drugs, Second Genome develops conventional large- or small-molecule therapies, the types of products that pharmaceutical companies already produce.

ALSO IN TODAY’S VENTUREWIRE (subscription required):

Enterprise drone software and services company PrecisionHawk has raised $18 million in Series C funding from a group of corporate strategic investors led by Verizon Ventures.

Investors are betting Bugcrowd Inc. can help companies crowdsource hackers to identify vulnerabilities. The San Francisco-based company raised $15 million in Series B funding led by the Australian firm Blackbird Ventures and had participation from Salesforce Ventures.

LUMA Capital Partners has closed its first fund, of an undisclosed size. The firm sought up to $100 million for LUMA Capital Partners Venture Fund I LP, according to a February regulatory filing.

Open-source machine learning company H2O.aiplans to announce on Wednesday that it hired Leland Wilkinson to lead a new push in data visualization.

(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving startups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, visit http://on.wsj.com/DJPEVCNews, scroll to the bottom and click “try for free.”)

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